Rader Knight walked into the single eatery in the village of Sasga and took his usual seat at the counter for breakfast before he started his morning patrol. The lone waitress set a plate of food and a steamy cup of tea in front of him. Rader nodded his thanks and picked up the eating utensil that looked like a spoon with three short, pointed prongs on the end of it and started eating the mixture of meat and vegetables.
While he ate, the cyborg sifted through his message on his integrated biocomputer. He mentally flipped through the message subjects and discarded those that were unimportant. It had been over two years since he had submitted DNA to the Narovian Interstellar Matchmaking Service. He had all but given up hope they would actually find him a mate after so much time had passed. Apparently, there weren’t that many females that were willing to take on a former vat soldier for a mate.
After thirty years as an Alliance warrior, Rader retired from service in the Defense Force with honor. He had come for Glasica to take the job of Chief Law Enforcement Office because his closest friend Makus Driza was coming to the young colony to settle with his new mate Jhenre to become a farmer and Rader’s second in command almost nine years before.
Rader stopped his spoon in mid-air as he processed the message internally. The matchmaking service had found him a match---or at least a female who wanted to know more even though she knew he was a cyborg.
“Hey, Rader. Are you glitching or what?” asked Makus as he took the seat next to him at the counter.
Rader blinked and looked at him. “I do not glitch. I was reading net-mail. Narovian Matchmaking found a match---one who at least wants to interact to know me while deciding if she will accept a mating contract.
“That’s great! Where is she from?”
“That dirt planet they call Earth. The one the Drayids attacked a month ago,” Rader said and set his spoon down. “I wonder if she even knows what a cyborg is.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because, they have found five other matches on various Alliance worlds who have all declined to get acquainted with me,” he replied. “Earth is non-spacefaring, and they don’t have cyborg technology.”
“But the service would have explained what it meant,” Makus reminded.
“I still don’t think she really understands. Most people think I am just a killing machine---that I am not capable of caring for or pleasing a female,” he said. “Perhaps not while I was a warrior, but my emotional suppressors were adjusted when I retired from the defense force.”
“Yeah, but you’re still pretty stoic.”
“I’m a cyborg.”
“Of course. So, is this female attractive?”
“Enough so that I can envision putting my cock into her,” Rader said. “It seems to like the idea.”
Makus threw back his head and laughed. “So that’s a yes. Did they send a vid?”
“I sent it to your tablet.”
Makus pulled out his table from its pouch on his belt and watched the vid. “Nice,” he said. “I can see where you could envision mating her. Nice voice, too but what language is that.”
“One of many on her planet.”
“Are you going to accept the match?”
“Of course. She is genetically compatible and attractive. Those are my primary requirements,” Rader said. “I’m not sure how to convince her to mate with me. I’ve never learned how to court a mate.”
“Well, the fact that she sent a reply is a positive sign. Tell her she is attractive and you would be honored to be her mate. You have her profile, and she has yours. You just need to convince her to come here and be your mate.”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know how to do that,” Rader said. “How do natural humans learn how to convince a female to mate with them?”
“They don’t, not really. It’s like I said. Let her know you like her and ask her to be your mate.”
“And why would she agree?” Rader asked.
“Well, you don’t do a thing for me, but you’re a good-looking man, you have a nice home and earn an honest living. Tell her what a nice colony we have here. Oh, and tell her my mate would love to have a female friend.”
“Her profile said she was a merchant, but her business was destroyed by the Drayids. Perhaps, she could open a shop here,” Rader added.
“You probably should learn more about the dirt planet, to see how it compares with Glasica. Maybe she wants to get away from Earth because of the Drayids’ attack,” Makus said. “She must want a mate if she applied to the matchmaking service, and she must like your profile and your vid. Ask her to come to Glasica and see what she says.
“I will review her profile while we are on patrol and consider what to say in my return vid. I will start my route as soon as I finish my meal.”
“My turn for the western settlements?”
“As you wish,” Rader answered.
Between them they had nine settlements to cover, the largest was a town of ten thousand, the other eight were just villages. Rader and Makus lived in the westernmost village of Sasga population fifteen hundred. There were deputy enforcers in each village, and eight in the town of Dalborth. Rader and Makus were in charge of the Glasica Law Enforcement.
The two of them divided up the territories and flew them about three times a week, stopping in at any of the villages that needed special attention. Generally, things were pretty peaceful as it was a family-centered colony. Generally, couples intending to start families or families settled on the predominantly agricultural colony.
Mining was the mainstay of the continent on the opposite side of the world, and they had their own law enforcers. They had their own cyborg.
None of that was on Rader’s mind as he walked back to his home and his personal flyer parked on the landing pad by his stone house. He was thinking about the woman from Earth on the vid he received. He knew immediately she was the one, by the way, his cock twitched as she spoke as if only to him. Excitement seemed to echo through his consciousness at the prospect of finally getting a mate of his own---if he could say the right words that would convince her he would be a good mate to her.
Radar was incapable of lying. That was programmed into his processors, and his gene’s as well. The only thing he could do was tell her what he felt and explain that he was a novice at courtship. He knew how to pleasure a woman from the sexbots at the pleasure stations he’d visited when he was a warrior on leave. They were very realistic. But it had been years.
By the time he finished his twelve-hour shift he had decided what to say:
“Greetings Skye Carter,
I was pleased to receive your message. I am very sorry that you were frightened by the Drayids attack. I spent many years of my military career fighting them for the Alliance. I am glad you were not injured.
I have reviewed your profile, and I believe we would be compatible mates. I confess I have no courtship skills, but if you agree to come to Glasica and be my mate, I will do my best to be a good mate to you and a good father to our offspring.
You are very beautiful; Skye Carter and I would be honored for you to become my mate and make offspring together. …And I will protect you all with my life.
Ask me anything you wish to know. I will answer as honestly as I know.
I am sending you pictures of my home and of our village. We have a simple but good life here.
I hope you will decide to come to Glasica, I ask that you give me your answer as soon as possible. Now that my warrior days are over I no longer wish to be alone.
Rader Knight.”